Rent the Runway, the premier women's high-end fashion rental company, began with the goal was of democratizing luxury by making high end designers accessible to women of all backgrounds. In order to achieve this goal, we had to understand every characteristic of our potential customers.
This experience was significant for me because while there I witnessed and participated in many foundational approaches that still inform how I engage with clients and employees. The most impactful lessons I learned while there, were centered around interdepertment collaboration, remaining instatably curious about your customers, and capturing and analyzing data to inform your next steps.
I've outlined several highlights from my instrumental years with these visionary market disruptors.
A Customer Insights Assoiate role positioned me to work on some exciting projects that involved leveraging a deep understanding of the customers in order to drive the direction of the business.
At the discovery phase of the project, we had in house data around potential first time renters, new members who had not yet rented and frequent renters who had not completed a purchase. We wanted to better understand the hesitations around finalizing the order when there was clear initial interest. We determined that in depth interviews with a selection of women who represented the groups we were most curious about was the best method.
This was the hypothesis because we wanted to hear in their own words what their thoughts and feelings were around the barrier to completing the purchase?We aimed to keep each interview to an hour and asked questions to learn about their daily lives, shopping habits, attitudes towards fashion, and fears, motivations and hopes regarding rentals? 25 people were interviewed through phone calls (pre-Zoom!) and we recorded the conversations with their consentFor this project, we were most curious if we could move the needle on rental conversion if we could build confidence in fit? The interviews led us to form a more defined hypothesis, that women were excited by the prospect of Haverdash, but still cautious due to fit concerns.
From those interviewed, if RTR could decrease fit concerns, 60% said they would be more likely to convertFrom those interviewed, if Haverdash could decrease fit concerns, 60% said they would be more likely to convert. This was a significant enough percentage that we chose to move forward with "Try On Parties" to further test the hypothesis
Data Analytics Quantitatve Behavior Analysis + Customer Insights Qualitative Research = Actionable Insights
Rent the Runway's emphasis on capturing and analyzing rich user insights led to many significant pivots in focus and approach during my time there. I was always impressed with the nimbleness in adjusting strategic approach to delivering "fairy tale" experiences for their customers.
One example of Insight driven pivot, was realizing that for many customers, "Newness" was more important than "luxury." This discovery uprooted the foundational hypothesis of the brand- but due to confidence in testing and data, the CEO and decision makers used this revolutionary discovery to adjust price points, introduce subscription models, and expand that brand offering in order to deliver to their users.
There were always surveys, experiments, A/B Testing running in the constant company wide effort to better understand and deliver to customers. On project that I led while there was called "At Home Try On Parties" where we invited several frequent renters to try on several top selections. This was in response to wide spread hesitation about reting an article without confirming fit for only 4 days. We discovered there to be an overwhelming demand for trial in advance of the rental period. The results of my project supported an effort that would go on to become Pop Up Shops and ultimately, 12 brick and mortar Rent the Runway locations.
Some Highlights:
- 98% conversion rate for placing a rental after attending a Try On Party
- Try On Party Attendees were 3x more likely to rent over a 1 year period compared to average user
- CLV for a Party Attendee was over 40% higher than average user
Outcomes: Subsequent efforts included "The Closet" Pop up Partnership with W Hotels
Development of "The Showroom" where VIPs and clients could make appointments to try on dresses in the HQ
- 12 Brick and Mortar Locations established for clients to try dresses before renting